I’m 65 years old, chances are I was taught this stuff in about the same decade you were. But “knowledge” didn’t stop in 1978, we’ve continued to learn about golf, as awell as every other field of endeavor. Over the last 10 years or so advances in shot records and statistical concepts has increased the understanding of how scoring works. That’s what this thread is largely about, the relatively newer concepts about scoring, backed with data collected from thousands (millions maybe?) of golfers of all levels of ability.
And in this discussion, its important to remember these are all generalities. All of the concepts apply to “golfers”, but not all of them necessarily apply to “DaveP043”. My particular set of strengths and weaknesses really doesn’t change the broad overall concepts, other than to serve as one out of millions of data points. The same with Fax or Slu or MJTorts, for the purposes here they’re just a data point, not anything conclusive.
Have you ever tried playing from closer? I don’t mean one time, I mean for a full season? Its definitely not comfortable at first, and there are definitely situations where its not advantageous, and of course a bit of partial-wedge practice helps, but it improved my overall proximity. I guarantee that if Gary Player or Jack Nicklaus had the same kind of data available when they were in their prime, none of us would ever have been taught to “lay up to a full wedge distance.”